Traffic Lawyers for Furious or Reckless Driving

Furious Or Reckless Driving – s 117 Road Transport Act (NSW)

The thought of loosing your licence, effect of it on your job, income and family is daunting after being charged with an offence of furious or reckless driving. Our exceptionally talented senior traffic lawyers hold over 20 years experience in countlessly achieving s10 outcome so that their clients keep their licence and livelihood. Speak to them on how to best achieve this for your case to begin preparing early.

Your Options in Court

PLEADING NOT GUILTY

You can only be guilty of furious or reckless driving if police can prove the following elements beyond a reasonable doubt in court:

You drove a motor vehicle on a road; and

You drove it furiously, or recklessly, or at a speed or in a way dangerous to the public.

You will be not guilty, and your charge dismissed if police are unable to prove any one of the above 2 elements.

Defences to this charge

You will be Not Guilty if:

Your manner of driving, in the control and management of the vehicle, was not dangerous to others on the road or in the vicinity of where you drove. i.e. You had a full nights rest before driving, or you had recently serviced your vehicle to be safe to drive.

You would not be considered to have foreseen the possibility of causing any danger to others in the manner of your driving in the circumstances at the time.

Mistaken identity. Where you were not the driver at the time.

Duress or Necessity: Where you did it to avoid serious harm, or you did it as a result of a threat or coercion.

Honest and reasonable mistake: Where you honestly believed you were not committing an offence in a set of circumstances that would be considered reasonable for you to have held that belief.

Your charge will be dismissed if any one of the above defences apply to you. Our senior traffic lawyers have fought and won, and even convinced police to drop charges early countless times for over 20 years. Speak to them now on realistic advice on your best defence.

PLEADING GUILTY

If you decide to plead guilty to an offence of furious or reckless driving, see the below tips and steps to best prepare your case to maximise your chances at getting a s10 and keep your licence intact.

25% Discount on punishment

Pleading guilty at the earliest possible time in your case for furious or reckless driving will result in you receiving a 25% discount on your punishment by the Judge. This results in a more lenient, better court result.

The later the plea of guilty is entered, the less the discount gets. Which is why, its critical to get early experienced advice and guidance.

Traffic Offenders Program

You should enrol and complete the traffic offenders program before your sentence in court. This will allow the Judge to find insight which will further reduce your punishment. Our senior traffic lawyers will guide you to enrolling into the right accredited course.

Good character references

Gathering letters expressing your good character, understanding into your conduct, remorse, shame, and effect of a loss of licence on your job and family can allow the Judge to give you further leniency and avoid a licence disqualification.

You will have a better chance at this if the letters come from family, friends, charity, employer, and letter of apology from you. Our lawyers can guide you in this.

Negotiate to drop charges

Our senior traffic lawyers have a proven success record in getting traffic charges dropped early. This is often best achieved by picking out all the holes in the evidence after having a thorough knowledge of it when strategically approaching police.

Negotiate facts

The police set of facts for your furious or reckless driving charge is usually initially drafted by police for the Judges reading. It is meant to express your offending conduct in detail, including, where and how long it occurred for, the way you committed the offence. This is sometimes one sided and far from the truth. This can result in a harsher punishment.

Our senior traffic lawyers hold a high success rate in convincing police to change those set of facts to something more favourable to your case. This results in a much more lenient court result, giving a better chance at s10 to avoid a loss of licence. The best way to achieve this is to point out all the holes in the evidence.

Psychologist reports

Getting a well drafted psychologist or psychiatrist report from a highly experienced and respected expert can significantly improve your court result, giving a better chance at avoiding a disqualification of your licence.

For maximum chances at this, the report should express your mental state, remorse, insight, shame and explanation for your behaviour. Our senior lawyers can guide you to the best suited expert to your case.

Maximum penalty

If you have no previous major offence, including drink driving, furious or reckless driving conviction in the last 5 years:

The automatic licence disqualification period is 3 years. The Judge can reduce this to a minimum of 1 year, depending on your need for a licence.

Maximum term of imprisonment of up to 9 months and/or fine of $2,200.

If you have a previous major offence, including drink driving, furious or reckless driving conviction in the last 5 years:

The automatic licence disqualification period is 5 years. The Judge can reduce this down to a minimum of 2 years disqualification, depending on your need for a licence.

Maximum term of imprisonment of up to 1 year and/or fine of $3,300.

Its important to know that court rarely give maximum punishments. Those are normally reserved only for the most serious offenders for a furious or reckless driving offence. If you get a section 10, then non of the above mentioned penalties do disqualification, fine or imprisonment apply to you.

Types of penalties

The Judge will give you any one of the following kinds of punishment, depending on the above points in preparing and presenting your case:

More information

Amongst the things the Judge will consider in determining whether or not to give you a s10 to allow you to keep your licence include, your traffic record, good character, effect of a loss of licence on your job and family dynamics. It’s important to ensure all these main points and more are portrayed to the Judge in the best possible way. This is something our traffic lawyers specialise in doing.

For the best chances at avoiding a loss of licence by achieving a s10 non conviction, speak to one of our highly experienced senior traffic lawyers now for your charge of furious or reckless driving offence. They hold a proven successful record of exceptional results for over 20 years.